Pelosi Dodges on Whether She’s Too Old to Be in Congress

"And everybody has to justify their existence to their constituents, and that's the democratic way."

By NTK Staff | 05.24.2018 @10:55am

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) dodged a question during a CNN town hall on Wednesday about whether it’s time for older politicians like herself to retire from Congress.

A participant at the town hall asked whether Pelosi thought it was time “for some members to return to private service and to encourage younger folks to run for office,” citing how more than half of the senators running for re-election this year are over 65 years-old.

“Should I take that personally?” the 78-year-old Pelosi joked.

“But I’ll take it personally and say that as a woman who came to Congress later because I raised my five children before I decided to accept the opportunity to run for Congress. So lots of times women are a bit older because they have been raising their children,” Pelosi said. “I don’t think age has that much to do with it.”

“And everybody has to justify their existence to their constituents, and that’s the democratic way. But, again, don’t — some members come to Congress older and they’re newer. Some people have been there 20 years, and they’re younger, but they just got a younger start,” Pelosi said. “But if you have a problem with somebody who’s older, run for office. Run for office. I say that, run for office.”